Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (D-46th Assembly District-Brooklyn), the first Soviet-born, Russian-speaking Member of the Assembly, has signed on as a co-sponsor of our resolution.

Our resolution to urge the state’s Congressional delegation to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to immediately withdraw its troops from the sovereign nation received bi-partisan support today.

Democratic Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (D-46th Assembly District-Brooklyn), the first Soviet-born, Russian-speaking Member of the Assembly, has signed on as a co-sponsor and is urging his counterparts in Washington, D.C. to send a crystal clear message to Russian autocratic President Vladimir Putin, that invading a sovereign nation is an unacceptable violation of international law.

Assemblyman Brook-Krasny fled the former Soviet Union in 1989 for the United States. He told me that he remembers people like Putin all too well and the evil they have wrought and that’s why it’s imperative that the U.S. and the international community join with the Ukrainian people to defend their right to be independent.

President Ronald Reagan, whose leadership and policies helped end the Cold War, eloquently spoke of the United States as a “shining city on a hill,” If we are to continue to be that beacon of freedom and democracy for all the world to see, then our elected representatives have a moral imperative to speak out against Putin’s invasion and occupation of the Crimea and Ukraine.

History has shown time after time that America cannot kowtow to bullies like Putin who use coercion to force their will on free people. The New York State Assembly asserts itself on many issues large and small. It should not remain silent on this one.